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#3346346 - 07/20/11 12:41 PM Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") *****  
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Since there are a lot of newcomers coming in to CoD I thought it might be useful to give a little overview of CEM, Complex Engine Management, which is one of the most funny and rewarding things this sim has to offer. I actually think that a lot of us who played Il-2 Classic were wishing that the engine management could be a little bit more realistic, to approximate our sim experiences a bit more to those of our WWII fighter heroes. Well, it IS more realistic in CoD, and that is a major part of the fun to be had with this sim. I personally think it strikes a good balance between "giving us more" and not going overboard à la DCS A-10, which is only for the most fanatic of button pushers.

So, the CEM is not VERY hard, but you definitely need to make a little effort.

I'd suggest you start out by setting at least throttle, prop pitch and mixture to your joystick. I personally have the radiators, flaps, landing gear, etc., on easy-to-remember keyboard keys.

----------
Early Spit
----------

Lets first look at the start-up procedure of the early Spit, which is quite simple:

Throttle to idle (i.e. a tiny bit forward from the most backward position)
"i" for ignition
Add a little throttle gradually, up to maybe ten-fifteen percent, but not so much that the engine starts running rough.
Watch temps climb to "nice and warm", i.e. around 60 to 80 degrees (Temp gauges in lower-right corner of dash-board. Speed up time if you're impatient)
Open radiator ("handbrake handle" left of the seat)
Full throttle and take off.

The important bit is that you should hold off on giving too much throttle when you hear and see (vibrations) the engine running rough. Just wait a while and let the coolant and oil heat up and then the engine will run fine, even eventually with full throttle.

After you take off, you can then mess with mixture if you fly high up and with prop pitch if you want to fly faster. However, the early Spit only has two settings for mixture and two for prop pitch, so it isn't as if you need to micro-manage anything. Prop pitch and mixture in the early Spit is for optimizing your performance in flight up high and fast, but let's do baby steps first and just learn to take off, fly around and land again. smile

----------
Bf-109
----------

Now the Bf-109:

Fuel cock open (big handle with round knob in upper-left corner of the cockpit)
Throttle to idle (a bit off the backwards stop)
"i" for ignition
Wait for temps to go nice and warm, 60-80 degrees. The temp gauges are in the lower middle of the dash-board, behind the tip of the control column).
Open radiator fully
Full throttle and take-off.

Prop pitch is more important for running the Bf-109 engine well than it is for the early Spit. The indicator looks like a clock-face and is on the extreme right of the dash-board. The prop pitch handle is smack in the middle of the dash-board. Interestingly, the handle only shows your input (up for coarse pitch, down for fine) but not the actual prop pitch position, since it springs back to neutral. So, unlike the Spit, the prop pitch handle is not simultaneously a prop pitch indicator: you have to look at the clock-face for that. It actually makes sense that the pilots didn't need to fiddle with a very sensitive handle for an action that could ruin their engine in seconds.

In flight you have to fiddle quite a bit with the prop pitch to fly at anything but slow speed. So, only low pitch for take-off and fast climb. For the rest you need to input a more coarse pitch. Listen to the engine and look at the rpm's. Remember, you're flying for the Führer, so be sharp. wink

----------

I intend to add more CEM quick and dirty guides for other planes to this first posting, but this should be enough for your first ten hours with the sim. I'm a bit of a knucklehead myself, so I'm sure some errors crept into this first posting. Alert me to them and they will be swiftly fixed!

Happy flying.

BTW, if you want to see it, have a look at the movies in my signature.


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
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#3346353 - 07/20/11 12:52 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Great stuff there Frey! Hey, if you're real motivated, you could add in some screen shots pointing out the various controls for those that are new to the cockpit. thumbsup cheers


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#3346364 - 07/20/11 12:59 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: -Avatar-]  
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No, we'll keep it quick and dirty... (i.e. summer holiday coming up) smile


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3346366 - 07/20/11 01:01 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Originally Posted By: Freycinet
No, we'll keep it quick and dirty... (i.e. summer holiday coming up) smile


No worries! Have a great holiday!


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#3346395 - 07/20/11 01:31 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Thanks for the quick guide
I've finally got the sim and I'm just blown away, It's fantastic. I imagine it'll only get better as well

Originally Posted By: Freycinet
à la DCS A-10, which is only for the most fanatic of button pushers.

^^^^Although I fall into this category, I find the engine management a welcome challenge. It "feels" more like I'm flying.
The a10 does have a lot of buttons, but man it's easy to fly. Hit 200 buttons, throttle up, hit a few more buttons, pull the stick back and don't hit the ground! Then hit about 200 more buttons and you're good to go smile

#3346401 - 07/20/11 01:36 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Sure, as you say: Easy! wink


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3346408 - 07/20/11 01:43 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Im telling you! It's easy (not the avionics). Starts up in the air and just try to depart controlled flight without recovering. It's harder to do that than it is to program a new flight plan into your CDU well getting missiles shot at you!

One quick question for you gents, sorry for the OT, is there an easy way to disable the red/blue text that pops up when your wingmen speak to you? The game looks so good I can hardly stand seeing my screen filled up with all that stuff

#3346462 - 07/20/11 02:42 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: SmokeyTheLung]  
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Its easy when you get an interactive tutorial and comprehensive manual. smile


"Rock crushes scissors ... but paper covers rock, and scissors cuts paper! Kif, we have a conundrum." - Zapp Brannigan
#3346468 - 07/20/11 02:47 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Nice guide Frey smile I'm going to print this off so that I can refer to it once I pick CloD up.


looks very modernishy-phoney-windows eighty-tabletty like

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#3346605 - 07/20/11 04:26 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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There's some nice startup vids on YouTube too by Jimbosmith: http://www.youtube.com/user/jimbosmith123#p/u


"Rock crushes scissors ... but paper covers rock, and scissors cuts paper! Kif, we have a conundrum." - Zapp Brannigan
#3346802 - 07/20/11 07:17 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Phazon]  
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Originally Posted By: Phazon
Its easy when you get an interactive tutorial and comprehensive manual. smile


Yup. 1C have proved a little bit lacking in that area. As well. smile

But, hey, it is also fun to find out stuff by ourselves... - And it keeps the XBox crowd away... smile


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3346808 - 07/20/11 07:20 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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And: If any newbie finds this guide lacking, pls tell me where it is less than pedagogical and I'll try to rectify it.

- And to the oldtimers... - If you find any gross errors in the guide pls tell me...


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3346815 - 07/20/11 07:31 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Any idea what could be wrong?

when trying to start Spitfire engine it does start, but after few seconds stops.

#3346844 - 07/20/11 08:04 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: _slm]  
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Originally Posted By: _slm
Any idea what could be wrong?

when trying to start Spitfire engine it does start, but after few seconds stops.



Make sure you turn the fuel cock on and verify its on in the cockpit. If the fuel cock doesn't turn on, make sure you haven't selected unlimited fuel in the realism settings.


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#3346858 - 07/20/11 08:28 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Chivas]  
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Fuel cock should be on, but currently the whole multiplayer stuff is so unstable (at least in my PC), that I think I'll wait for the next patch before continuing CEM experimenting. I get freezes almost every time.

#3346893 - 07/20/11 08:59 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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What keeps you from playing around with the CEM offline?


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3346904 - 07/20/11 09:10 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Should be on?? I have to turn the fuel cock on in the Spit.


Intel core I7 4790K @ 4.4
Asus Maximus Hero VII Motherboard
16 gigs DDR3 2133
EVGA GTX980Ti
Oculus Rift
LG 37" LCD
BLack Mamba III Joystick
Cougar Throttle/X55 Throttle/Saitek Levers
Saitek Pro Rudder pedals
Voice Activation Controls
#3346910 - 07/20/11 09:18 PM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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Yeah, it isn't on by default. You have to turn it on.

BTW, I did the exact same thing early on and was pretty frustrated about not getting the engine to start. Then I watched jimbo's great vids and learned...


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3347022 - 07/21/11 12:32 AM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: Freycinet]  
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The Spit usually needs about 10 -12% throttle as well, it then takes some time to warm up, slowly throttle it up as the engine warms, or else you will stall it.


III/JG11_Tiger
#3347023 - 07/21/11 12:36 AM Re: Quick and dirty CEM guide for our American cousins (that is: "Complex Engine Management") [Re: _slm]  
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Originally Posted By: _slm
Fuel cock should be on, but currently the whole multiplayer stuff is so unstable (at least in my PC), that I think I'll wait for the next patch before continuing CEM experimenting. I get freezes almost every time.


Not sure of your PC equipment, but I would suggest trying either turning off shadows, turn the textures to medium and turn trees to off, you may not need to do the first two depending on your set up, but the trees off is apparently helping with the online sound loss issue, also SSAO off and no epileptic filter, unless you feel you need it on that is.


III/JG11_Tiger
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